European Heritage Open Day is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary in Northern Ireland. Hundreds of special places open their doors to the public to offer free events on 9–10 Septmber. This year’s theme is ‘Heritage & Nature: A landscape of possibilities’. There are nearly 400 events to chose from this year. We’ve handpicked five of our favourites.

Ryan John Quinn was born and bred in Dundrum, Co Down in the shade of the Mourne Mountains. He now lives with his wife and kids in Germany, working as a shepherd in Lower Saxony. Ryan shares his thoughts on living away, his urge to come home and the considerations that involves.

Let’s be honest. If you picked 100 people and asked them to name ten things that are manufactured in Northern Ireland you can be pretty sure that by the end of it you could count on one hand the number of times someone answered ‘surfboards’.